The night before the wedding, our friends were playing truth or dare.

First round, my fiancé lost. The slip he drew said to kiss a bridesmaid.

He looked around the room and chose my best friend.

“You two are practically the same person, right? Kissing her is the same as kissing you.”

Everyone was egging him on. Bella Malone tried to push him away.

“I can't, I have a boyfriend now……”

Before she could finish, Ezra Stephens gripped the back of her neck and kissed her, deep and rough.

“Boyfriend? I thought I was the only man in your life.”

“If you don't want me marrying her, I won't. Why would you say something like that just to hurt me?”

The room detonated.

Silence first, then the murmuring, and every pitying glance landed on me.

Ezra turned to look at me too.

“Don't misunderstand. I knew Bella before I ever met you. She's not the other woman.”

“She held back all this time for the sake of our arrangement. You should be thanking her.”

“If you can't even handle that, we can always swap brides.”

I laughed. The kind of laugh that comes when the anger is so absolute it flips over into something cold.

He was right about one thing. This was an arranged marriage.

Which meant the groom was mine to choose.

……

The room went quiet for one beat, then erupted.

“Holy shit, Ezra, you were hiding her this whole time? No wonder every time Bella lost a dare you jumped in to drink for her.”

“First couple years, Alexis put the word out that nobody was allowed to let you touch alcohol. We couldn't even invite you to a business dinner.”

“That's rich. Alexis Henson would rather die than let her father's mistress into the house, and she turns out to be the third wheel herself?”

Ezra raised an eyebrow.

Didn't confirm. Didn't deny.

I looked down at the row of empty glasses in front of me.

Bella had lost six rounds. I had lost twelve.

Years ago, Ezra ruined his stomach drinking. I nursed him back to health over three years and banned alcohol for him, at home and everywhere else.

He'd obeyed, mostly because he didn't want me angry.

Twelve drinks were nothing to me. I never expected him to take them for me. But he'd taken every one of Bella's.

I'd thought he was doing it so I wouldn't worry about her. Turns out he was playing hero for the one he actually wanted.

Bella glanced at me, guilt flickering across her face, and quickly waved her hands.

“Lexi is wonderful, you guys shouldn't talk about her like that.”

“Besides, she's the Henson heiress. How could I ever compete……I'm happy just being able to see Ezra now and then.”

Her eyes reddened, her teeth pressing into her lower lip, the picture of quiet suffering.

As if I'd used my name and my family's money to steal her boyfriend, and she was too afraid of retaliation to do anything but swallow it.

Right on cue, the room turned on me.

“Someone acts all high and mighty, but behind closed doors she's as dirty as anyone.”

“I always thought Alexis was a control freak. Won't even let the man drink. Who'd actually want that? Ezra had no choice before—he needed the arrangement. But things are different now.”

“No kidding. Ezra just landed the development rights for that south-side plot yesterday. A deal that size? From now on, it's the Hensons answering to the Stephens.”

My head snapped up, eyes sharp.

“What did you just say?”

The bid meeting for that land wasn't supposed to be until the day after tomorrow.

Someone let out a snide laugh.

“That meeting ended yesterday. Ezra fed you the wrong date on purpose. That's what you get for trying to compete with him.”

“But hey, your proposal didn't go to waste. Bella gave it to Ezra. Now that's a power couple. Unstoppable.”

My eyes went wide.

My father had promised me. If I landed that project, he would never let his mistress and her illegitimate son through our door.

Half a month I'd gone without rest, revising that proposal dozens of times until I was finally satisfied.

Bella wasn't just my closest friend—she was my assistant. However late I stayed up, she stayed up with me.

And Ezra had voluntarily stepped aside from this bid entirely.

Now the two people I trusted most had joined hands to set me up.

Bella walked over, eyes rimmed red.

“Lexi, you're my best friend. I never meant to steal him from you.”

“But I really do love him. I couldn't stand watching him lose. You can punish me however you want—even if it means I never see him again……”

She sobbed like her heart was breaking, and Ezra pulled her into his arms, his expression full of tender concern.

“Alexis, look what you've done—you've scared her half to death. This was all my idea. A woman should be soft and supportive like her, not competing with her own man at every turn!”

“You know exactly how much the Henson family sank into landing this project. A loss that size—Henson Corp is going to need Stephens Corp's backing going forward.”

“Just accept what Bella and I have, let the wedding go ahead tomorrow, and I might even consider giving the Hensons a cut of this project. That's better than losing everything, isn't it?”

Listening to him, I laughed.

He knew perfectly well the Stephens family would never accept someone of Bella's background.

He just wanted me as a shield.

I stood up, unhurried.

“No need. The project and you—I don't want either.”

I looked at Bella. Still that same pitiful, fragile act.

When she first joined the company, she was being bullied by a senior manager.

I fired him on the spot, transferred her to my side, taught her to read financial statements, to build proposals from the ground up.

When a client tried to grope her at a business dinner, I smashed a bottle over his head and tore up a contract worth millions.

Bella had cried so hard she couldn't speak：

“Ms. Henson, I'll work so hard for you. I'll help you land more projects. I won't let you down.”

Now she called me Lexi. Said I was her best friend.

Then conspired with my fiancé to steal my proposal and let the whole world think I was the other woman.

My voice came out flat and quiet：

“All these years, I was blind. Your man—take him back.”

“You're fired. Next time we meet, call me Ms. Henson.”

The color drained from Bella's face.

I walked past her without a second glance.

It was raining outside. I stepped straight into it.

I hadn't gone more than a few steps before Ezra's message came through.

“Who said you could leave? You made Bella cry. Get back here and apologize to her!”

The first time he'd ever had a high fever, back when we'd just gotten together—I'd rushed over to take care of him.

I tried to make him a bowl of porridge and nearly set the kitchen on fire.

Watching him drag himself out of bed—still sick—to clean up my mess, I told him I was sorry.

He took my face in both hands, his gaze steady and serious.

“Lexi, with me, you never have to say those three words.”

“You make a mess, I'll clean it up. You make a mistake, I'll make it right.”

“But watching you bow your head and apologize—I can't take it.”

And now he wanted me to apologize to his mistress.

At some point, an umbrella appeared above my head.

Ezra held out a handkerchief, his expression soft and helpless.

“You and that stubborn streak. If you don't want to apologize, don't. No need to punish yourself over it.”

“The bid thing was my fault. I shouldn't have hidden what was going on between me and Bella either. If you hate it, I'll hand the development rights back to you and cut contact with her. Here, dry off before you catch a cold.”

The truth was, Ezra Stephens was never supposed to be on my list of arranged marriage candidates.

The Stephens family was deep in a business crisis back then. No one wanted a strategic marriage with a family that could collapse any day.

But I chose him anyway.

Not for any grand reason. Just because at my birthday dinner, my father's illegitimate son called my mother a short-lived bitch cursed to die young.

Ezra didn't hesitate. He rushed over and beat the kid half to death.

And when my father forgot my birthday entirely, off celebrating an anniversary with the other woman,

I sat in front of my mother's grave all night. Ezra stood behind me the whole time, holding an umbrella.

The umbrella covered me and my mother's headstone. He was soaked through.

By dawn his hands were shaking.

Something shifted in my chest. Without thinking, I took the handkerchief and wiped my face.

A second later, searing pain tore through both eyes, and the burn in my sinuses was unbearable.

Tears and snot poured out before I could stop them.

Laughter exploded around me.

I forced my eyes open and saw the others walking over with Bella.

“Oh my God, how's that extra-strength onion juice treating you? Look at her face right now”

“Ezra said she made Bella cry and wouldn't apologize, so let her cry all she wants!”

“A few fake lines and she totally fell for it. What an idiot!”

Bella ran over with a few tissues.

“Lexi, are you okay? I tried to talk him out of it, but he cares about me too much……”

I managed to wipe my face clean, but then I caught the glint on her ring finger.

I grabbed her wrist, my voice raw：

“What is this?!”

That was the stone Ezra had won at auction for nine figures.

I designed the setting myself, found the craftsman, spent six months having a pair of wedding rings made.

Ezra had been keeping them both.

He'd smiled and said that was what it meant to be of one heart, that he'd put mine on my finger himself on our wedding day.

Now it was on another woman's hand.

Bella started crying again.

“I'm sorry, I just wanted to know what it felt like to wear a wedding ring that matched his.”

“I'll give it back right now, I swear……”

She made a show of tugging at the ring, but it wouldn't come off, and she stood there looking helpless.

Ezra caught her hand and held it. His expression darkened.

“That's enough, Alexis! I can't marry her, and that's already unfair to her. What's the big deal about a ring?”

“There are plenty of wedding rings in any jewelry store. I'll wire you the design fee and the labor cost, every cent!”

“This was always an arrangement for mutual benefit. As long as the title of Mrs. Stephens is still yours, what more do you want? Don't push your luck!”

I've never been someone who lets her emotions take over.

But something heavy pressed against my chest all the same.

That day at my mother's grave, I'd told him：

“Go home. You don't have to force a marriage. You stood in the rain for my mother all night, so I'll help the Stephens family.”

Ezra had smiled：

“You don't have to help me. But I'm going to marry you.”

“I know Miss Henson is proud and capable and never leans on anyone. But it's strange. The rain stopped, and I still want to hold the umbrella for you. When it's cloudy, to keep the rain off. When it's clear, to keep the sun off.”

When he said it, a drop of rainwater slid from the tip of his hair.

And landed like a single ripple on the still surface of my heart.

I held nothing back. I helped him, I agreed to marry him, and I believed we were trading one honest heart for another.

Now he called it mutual exploitation.

Someone nearby complained about the cold and suggested the hot springs. One by one, people climbed into their cars.

Bella settled into the passenger seat of Ezra's car, eyes still glistening.

“Lexi, I really never meant to hurt you.”

“But I'm too emotional right now. I don't think I can be in the same space as you. Would you mind getting back on your own?”